No matter what channel
you switch over to, you're bound to land on a real-life reality TV show
such as Cops, Motorway Petrol or more importantly, Chopper Rescue.
Fortunately Chopper
Rescue is an Australian produced ABC series that throws the
sensationalism out the window and revolves around the crews of Emergency
Management Queensland, a 24x7 emergency service who use helicopters to
transport patients.

Based in Cairns and
Townsville, they are dictated by doctors, paramedics and other emergency
services as fly their victims to the nearest hospital for the much
needed assistance they need. The charm of this series is that the viewer
is also given a snapshot of the people who sometimes risk their lives
for others and some of the chopper rescues are quite difficult due to
cramped conditions. The most memorably episode is of a ghost ship
sailing in the Northern waters of Queensland that appears to have nobody
onboard. At times, Chopper Rescue plays out like a documentary series
that adds a healthy dose of drama into the mix.

The episodes are quite
diverse and the first episode
revolves around a man with acute pancreatitis and needs to be
transported from a remote satellite hospital in Mareeba to a larger
medical centre that have the equipment needed to save his life. Episode
two requires the crew of the EMD to accompany a very dehydrated baby
from the remote town of Hopevale in Northern Queensland. The second part
of this episode requires the team to attend a serious car accident on
Magnetic Island and due to the limited amount of resources, their job
becomes quite difficult.

With only four episodes
on this collection, Chopper Rescue is a well produced series that gives
the viewer enough information without it being overbearing or too
commercial. It's also quite fascinating to watch them work on their feet
because sometimes they need to juggle their priorities, including those
of their clients such as a young boy who is injured by a motor vehicle
and is forced to be carefully be moved to Cairns hospital for fear of
spinal injured. And then these brave heroes have other obstacles in
their way such as the weather and the remoteness of many of their
rescues that can be quite difficult for them to get to their patients.
Another highlight of the series is that there is a follow-up to the
patients that nicely ends their story.

The only downside of
this series is that is quite limited with only four episodes. Hopefully
the ABC will release additional instalments of this interesting and
captivating TV series. The video and audio quality is quite average for a
TV produced series but fortunately the drama of the incidents more than
outweigh for this lack of quality.